Certified Illinois Assessing Officer (CIAO) Continuing Education Stipend

The annual continuing education requirement for the $500 Certified Illinois Assessing Officer (CIAO) stipend requires completion of 30 hours of continuing education course work approved by the Department of Revenue. (At least 15 of the 30 hours must be examination credit.)

The Illinois Department of Revenue has been given the responsibility of approving courses for continuing education stipend credit. The department has approved over 900 courses from over 100 appraisal organizations, universities, and community colleges for continuing education credit.

The department gives automatic approval to the following courses:

  • Department of Revenue – (All Courses)

  • Illinois Property Assessment Institute – (Courses Pre-Approved by the Department of Revenue)

  • International Association of Assessing Officers – (All Examination Courses)

  • Appraisal Institute – (All Examination Courses)

To qualify for continuing education credit, a course must address the cost, market, and income approaches to value, mass appraisal techniques, property tax administration, and business or computers as required by Sec 4-10 of the Property Tax Code (35 ILCS 200/4-10). Also, the course must be of adequate substance to warrant approval for continuing education credit.

To request course approval, please submit a copy of the course description, detailed outline, time slots for each topic, and dates for the course. In order to receive examination credit, the Department of Revenue must have a copy of the course examination(s). The examination(s) must be stringent enough to warrant examination credit. If no examination(s) are provided, the course may still qualify for seminar credit.

The department reserves the right to reevaluate approved courses and change the amount or type of credit if the situation so warrants.

If there are any questions concerning the approval of any courses, contact the Department of Revenue with as much advance notice as possible.

Anyone who is the sole instructor for an approved course will receive full credit for the course he or she is teaching.

Continuing education credit will not be awarded for course duplication.

NOTE: Recipients of the CAE and RES designations who wish to qualify for the continuing education stipend must also meet the continuing education requirement.